Bellator middleweight Maiquel Falcao still won’t admit he had a heart attack. Despite the fact that his own trainer told the press he was rushed to the hospital with chest pains and may have died had he not received immediate medical care, he believes that overtraining, poor diet choices and personal stress put him down.

“I had been overtraining,” Falcao told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) of his hospitalization this past November. “I wanted to put on a great show at Bellator so I was practicing extensively, but I wasn’t allowing myself sufficient rest. I was also dealing with some psychological issues.”

Falcao does, in theory, know himself better than anyone else. Maybe his manager misheard a doctor or overstated the actual diagnosis. Or maybe his pride won’t allow him admit he was desperately vulnerable for a moment. Regardless of what happened, he and everyone around him can agree that he’s now back and ready to resume his career.

The promotion that scooped him up prior to his health scare is waiting. Bellator’s season-six middleweight tournament beckons, and tonight, Falcao (28-4 MMA, 0-0 BFC) hopes to gun the “Big Rig” when he headlines Bellator 61 against French fighter Norman Paraisy (10-1-1 MMA, 0-1 BFC) in the competition’s opening round. The event takes place at Horseshoe Riverdome in Bossier City, Louisiana, and main-card action airs live on MTV2. (Preliminary-card fights stream on Spike.com.)

Although Falcao might disagree with others on what happened to him, the scare was certainly serous enough to prompt lifestyle changes. He moved 500 miles away to be closer to his manager, Marcelo Brigadeiro, and the two sketched out a plan to change the things that temporarily derailed his comeback.

“We reviewed every facet of my career to identify what was being done correctly and what was being done incorrectly,” Falcao said. “Whatever problems I used to have is the past now.”

Falcao emerged as one of the brighter prospects in the UFC’s middleweight division when he outpointed veteran Gerald Harris at UFC 123. But his rise was halted this past year when he was arrested in Brazil for an alleged assault on a woman in 2002. The promotion subsequently released him, and suddenly, the momentum he’d gained over seven years of fighting was gone.

It was a setback that would be devastating to most fighters, but Falcao simply got back in the gym and trained harder. He re-emerged on the Brazilian circuit and TKOd his next opponent in under 30 seconds. A submission loss this past September gave him pause, but another first round TKO a month later put him back in the win column. Then came the call from Bellator.

On the cusp of an opportunity to re-establish himself in the U.S. and win a six-figure payout from the tournament-based promotion, Falcao said he’s a smarter fighter than before and isn’t deterred by his previous setbacks.

“God knows what he does,” he said. “He knows when you deserve or when you don’t deserve it. My problems during that time are not to blame for my loss. I learned a lot from that loss. I figured out some mistakes in my daily training routine. Now I’m learning to rest more between training sessions.

“Thanks to God, despite the occasional loss, whenever I fall, I rise up even stronger. In this fight I was able to demonstrate some of my improvements. I feel strong now, and I feel I’ll be representing Brazil well.”

Falcao said he and his team have explored Paraisy’s strengths and weaknesses and planned accordingly. The French fighter has but one loss on his professional record – against former UFC champ Dave Menne under the Bellator banner – and made the initial cut of 32 fighters on “The Ultimate Fighter 11.” Paraisy also has a previous win over Paulo Filho, but that doesn’t worry “Big Rig.”

“Paulo Filho is not as good as he used to be,” Falcao said. “Just look at his more recent performances. I’m putting in my work to get the ‘W’. How easy or hard that may be has yet to be determined, most likely during the fight. As of now I haven’t had a chance to meet him or get to know him.

“I think I’ll give him a lot of work because of my experience level. I have 36 fights, almost all victories, with only five losses. I’ve been training and fighting for several years now.”

Falcao has certainly had all the ups and downs that come with veteran status, and probably some experiences that most fighters don’t encounter. With that in that past, he’s looking forward to starting where he left off: knocking out opponents in the first round.

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